Terror in the Middle of the Night
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: Nick and Jackie awake to a terrifying scene. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

Terror in the Middle of the Night

"Goodnight Jasmine. Mommy loves you." Jackie said as she pulled the covers up over the little girl's legs.

"Night night mama." The little girl replied with a slight smile.

"Night Dolly." Jackie said as she walked over to where the family dog lay in her dog bed at the foot of Jasmine's bed.

Jackie gave the dog a gentle pat on the head.

The dog lifted her head in greeting and wagged her tail a couple times.

Jackie smiled as she walked out of the room.

"All the kids are down for the night." She announced to Nick who was in bed reading a new forensic science magazine.

"That's good. Look at this new gadget, it makes it easier to identify brands of car paint, that would help us out on a lot of cases, too bad it's so expensive, there is no way it's in the budget for the lab right now."

"That's too bad." Jackie said as she picked up the novel she was in the middle of off of her nightstand.

She crawled into bed and flipped to where her bookmark was. She read a chapter and then went to sleep. Nick finished his magazine and then he too fell asleep.

They were sleeping peacefully until a few hours later when they were awoken by vicious sounding dog barks coming from Jasmine's room. Nick and Jackie bolted out of bed and raced into Jasmine's room.

They were horrified, a strange man was inches from Jasmine's bed.

Jasmine looked terrified as she sat up in bed, tightly clutching her beloved stuffed pink rabbit.

Dolly was in between the stranger and Jasmine's bed, growling and barking as ferociously as she could, desperately trying to protect the child.

TBC…..


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey." Nick yelled loudly at the strange man.

The man turned around and faced Nick. Nick lunged at the man at full speed like a linebacker would lunge at a receiver. The impact of blow sent both men flying, when they landed the stranger hit his head so hard on the wall behind him it knocked him out.

Jackie raced in, scooped up Jasmine and ran out of her room as fast as she could. Dolly stayed with Nick, growling furiously at the now unconscious man. Dolly grabbed the man's pant leg with such vigor she tore his jeans.

"Let go girl." He told the dog.

She did what she was told but still stood by Nick's side, growling up a storm. Nick was still on top of the stranger, ready to pound his face into the ground if he awoke and tried to get away.

Jackie frantically ran to the other children's rooms to check on them. They were thankfully all safe in their beds, still sleeping peacefully. She woke Houston and Johnna and scooped Karlie up into her arms. It wasn't easy carrying both Karlie and Jasmine but Jasmine was understandably so terrified Jackie couldn't possibly expect her to not be carried. Jackie then hurriedly reached the nearest phone and dialed 911.

After she got off the phone she wasn't sure what she should do, part of her thought she should run out of the house to a neighbor's to keep her kids safe but she wasn't sure if she should do that in case their were more assailants outside. She decided that the best thing to do was hide in the shower with the kids with the bathroom door locked until helped arrived. Nick still remained on top of the man.

"Good girl Dolly." He praised the dog who wouldn't leave Nick's side, growling as loud as ever.

Jackie stayed in the bathroom shower with all the kids until she heard the sound of sirens roar down the street. She took the kids downstairs with her and let the police in, they came in with guns drawn. Jackie directed them upstairs to Jasmine's room. Sara and Brass came in just mere seconds behind the officers.

"We heard the 911 call and recognized the address, are you guys alright?"

"Yes we're fine." Jackie said.

"Bad man in room, dada fly." Jasmine told Sara and Brass, Jasmine was still so scared she was trembling in Jackie's arms.

"It's ok sweetheart, you are safe now." Jackie told her soothingly as she tightened her grip on her.

Brass followed the officers upstairs to help apprehend the suspect while Sara stayed with Jackie and the kids. By now all the kids were awake and they all looked scared.

Moments later two officers led the now conscious but still totally dazed suspect down the stairs and out the door. Nick and Dolly came down with Brass just seconds later.

"Are you alright?" Jackie asked immediately.

"Yeah I'm fine, are you guys ok?" Nick asked with worry coating his voice.

"Yeah, just fine." Jackie assured him.

"Dada." Jasmine whined, clearly wanting Nick to come over to her.

"I'll be right back kiddo, daddy has to go change his clothes." Nick said as he followed Brass outside.

"He's evidence." Sara explained to Jackie who had a look of confusion on her face.

Moments later Nick came back into the house talking to Brass and wearing different clothing.

"Look the guy is lucky all he got was a concussion, if I would have had my gun handy he'd be a goner. How dare he come into my home and try to steal my daughter." Nick told Brass gruffly.

"Good for you Nicky, you did the right thing, there is no doubt about it. But I still would like all of you to come down to the station and give a statement." Brass told him.

"Fine, we'll come down and give a statement but I'm in no way sorry for sending the guy into the wall headfirst. Even if I face legal consequences. I'd gladly do jail time if it meant Jasmine was safe."

"I'm sure you would, any father would, you're not looking at any legal consequences at all because you did nothing wrong, it's not like you are going to face 25-life, I just need your statement." Brass told his friend as he laid his hand on his shoulder.

"25 life dada." They suddenly heard a tiny voice say.

They turned around to where Jasmine was sitting with Jackie, Houston, Johnna, and Karlie on the couch.

"You want daddy to do 25-life?" Nick asked with a smile.

"Yeah." Jasmine said with a happy smile, as if she thought that sounded like a great idea.

"Alright, you heard her, cuff me Jim." Nick said with a laugh.

"Jasmine is such a bright little girl but if she thinks serving a 25-life in prison is a good thing I certainly hope she doesn't want to go into law enforcement as a career." Jim said with a chuckle.

Everyone laughed.

The whole family then went down to the station to give their statement.

Jackie and Sara drove with the kids, and Dolly (Dolly too had to be processed for evidence at the lab) in Jackie's van while Nick went with Jim in Jim's unmarked police car. When they got to the station, Russell watched the kids, and Finn took Dolly so she could process her, while Nick and Jackie were taken to give their statements.

They gave their statements in separate rooms and after they were finished and the family was back together again Sara said "Greg and Morgan are processing your house. They want to see how he got in, and who he is. He had no ID on him. Catherine went to the hospital to process the suspect. She's got a warrant for his DNA and fingerprints, we'll get this figured out."

"Yeah, I was so busy trying to get Jasmine out of harms way I didn't even think to look for signs of forced entry or any other kind of evidence." Nick told Sara.

"You did your most important job, you saved Jasmine." Jackie assured him with a smile.

"I know, I wasn't apologizing for not looking for evidence, I just was stating a fact." He told her.

"Jackie, I'd like to ask Jasmine a few questions, they will be really basic and I'll do it as gently as I possibly can. Would you allow me to do that?" Sara asked.

"Can Nick and I be in there with her?" Jackie asked, not wanting Jasmine to have to remember what happened without her and Nick by her side.

"Sure, and Russell can keep an eye on Houston, Johnna, and Karlie."

"Ok then, you can." Jackie said.

Sara nodded and then led Nick, Jackie, and Jasmine into the interrogation room.

"Jasmine sweetie, can you tell me about the man in your room?" Sara asked.

"Him scary, dada fly." She responded.

"Did the scary man wake you up?"

"No."

"Ok honey, then who woke you up?" Sara asked.

"Dolly, her mad, her barkin' and barkin'."

"I see, what else can you tell me?" Sara asked.

"Dada mad too." The little girl said innocently.

The adults chuckled.

"Jasmine, thank you for answering my questions, you did a great job. You're such a brave little girl." Sara said with a smile.

"Yeah." Jasmine agreed with a smile.

Jasmine then had a question of her own but it wasn't for Sara.

"Cookie dada?" She asked as she looked at Nick.

Nick laughed.

"Yeah, come on, I'll go buy you a cookie out of the vending machine." He said as he stood up.

He took Jasmine off of Jackie's lap and walked over to the door with her in her arms.

"I always buy her a cookie out of the vending machine, it's the only reason she likes coming to the lab." Nick told Jackie and Sara with a laugh before he left the room with Jasmine.

Soon after that Morgan called Sara, she and Greg had found out how the guy had gotten in, he had managed to break just enough of the glass of Jasmine's bedroom window so that he could reach his hand in and unlock the window. A tire iron was laying just outside the child's bedroom window, as well as a latter, and a small pile of glass was on the floor under the window in Jasmine's room.

Not long after Morgan had called with her report Catherine also called Sara, she had gotten a hit on the man's fingerprints and everyone was in for a huge shock.

TBC….


	3. Chapter 3

"Sara the assailant is George Gordon, he's the brother of Walter Gordon. George was in the system for a petty theft charge from when he was a teenager." Catherine said.

Sara's mouth dropped open and she felt a pit form in her stomach.

"What did he say, is he talking?" Sara asked.

"Oh yeah, he had plenty to say, it's sickening."

"What'd he say?" Sara asked again, somewhat impatiently.

"He said that it's Nick's fault that his brother and niece are dead. I reminded him that Walter was the one who had kidnapped Nick and buried him alive not the other way around and he just waved his hand dismissively like that didn't even matter. He went on to say that he wanted revenge against Nick and so he at first intended to kidnap and kill Nick but then he decided that it would hurt Nick much more if he kidnapped and killed his daughter instead. He was so cold about everything, as if Jasmine was a stuffed toy, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up Sara. I told him that Jasmine was an innocent little girl, she had done absolutely nothing to him and his response to me was _that's true, but that's the price you pay when your father is a dirt bag."_

"Oh my God, Nick is going to totally freak out, how horrible and how chilling, I don't even want to think about what would have happened if they didn't have their dog." Sara responded.

"I know, I was thinking about that too, Nick and Jackie saved Jasmine from danger but I truly think Dolly is the real hero here."

"I'm going to go talk to Nick and Jackie, call me back if he says anything else, or if you need any help with anything." Sara told her.

"I will but I don't think I'll be needing any help, he was caught red handed in the Stokes' house and he already gave me a full confession and Greg just called me, there was a print on the tire iron outside Jasmine's window, it matched George Gordon, the case is solved."

"That's a relief at least." Sara said.

"Yes it is."

"Well I'm going to go talk to Nick and Jackie, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok bye Sara." Catherine said as she hung up.

Sara walked into the break room where Nick and Jackie, as well as their kids, and Finn and Russell sat talking to one another. Jasmine was perched on Nick's lap happily munching on her cookie that Nick had bought her. Houston sat quietly in Finn's lap also eating a cookie. Johnna was fast asleep in Russell's lap and Karlie was in Jackie's lap banging her baby rattle on the table contently.

"Shhh sweetheart, you'll wake your sister." Jackie told the infant as she put her hand down where the rattle was hitting the table so it would quit making noise.

Karlie let out a frustrated squawk, angry that the fun game that she was playing had been halted.

Everyone chuckled at the baby's antics.

"Hi guys." Sara said as she sat down.

"Hi Sara." Everyone greeted. "Finn, Russell, would you take the kids out to the hallway? I need to talk to Nick and Jackie."

"Sure. Come on Jasmine." Russell said as he stood up slowly so he wouldn't wake Johnna.

Finn stood up with Houston in her arms. She grabbed Houston's cookie so he could finish his out in the hall too.

"Cookie?" Jasmine asked.

"Yep you can bring your cookie." Russell told her.

Jasmine grabbed her cookie and then happily followed everyone else to the hallway.

Dolly was right on the little girl's heels, eager to snatch up any of the child's cookie if she happened to drop any.

Karlie remained in Jackie's lap, the baby was too little to understand anything and it would be harder for Russell and Finn to watch after all four of them then it would be for them to just take the three kids.

Sara waited until the others were out in the hallway before she begin to speak.

"We have the ID of the man that broke into your house." She said.

"That's wonderful, who is it?" Jackie asked.

"His name is George Gordon." Sara said.

Nick's eyes got wide.

"Gordon, as in Walter and Kelly Gordon?" He asked.

"Yes, George is Walter's brother." Sara replied.

The color drained out of Nick's face, and he felt as if he might vomit. Jackie laid her free hand across Nick's shoulders, she too felt sick to her stomach.

"Did he say why he broke into our house?" Nick asked quietly, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Nick, you don't need to hear why." Sara said.

"Yes I do." He argued.

Sara took a deep breath. "He said that he blames you for the death of his brother and niece and he wanted to kidnap and kill you at first but then he realized that it would hurt you much deeper if he, if he, um." Sara stuttered, knowing the last part of her sentence would be horrific for both Nick and Jackie to hear.

"If he went after my little girl instead?" Nick finished for her.

"Yes Nick, I'm so sorry."

Nick's eyes welled with tears, as did Jackie's and Sara's.

"It's ok Nicky, Jazz is safe, we all are." Jackie said softly as she ran her hand up and down his back in a comforting motion.

"I can't even let myself imagine what would have happened if we didn't have Dolly." Nick said quietly.

"Dolly very likely saved Jasmine's life." Sara agreed.

Everyone let that sink in, no one said anything for a bit, they just sat there in silence until the sound of a loud noise caused them all to jump.

Everyone looked at the baby who sat there grinning widely as she resumed her game of _bang my rattle as hard as I can on the table._

Jackie laughed. "You little stinker." She said as she kissed the top of Karlie's head.

A little while later Nick, Jackie, and the kids were escorted by a police officer to Jackie's parent's house to make sure they got there safely so they could spend the night.

Their house was still a crime scene so they couldn't go home, although the case seemed open and shut, Morgan and Greg wanted to make sure they grabbed every tiny shred of evidence to make sure George Gordon was put away for good.

After they had arrived at Jackie's parent's house they got the kids settled in for the night. It didn't take any of the kids long to fall asleep, they were all understandably exhausted.

After all the kids were put to bed Nick made Dolly a Texas sized steak as a token of Nick and Jackie's forever gratitude for what the dog had done and Dolly happily gobbled up every bite of her delicious reward.

The End!


End file.
